Wireless Rubik's Cube Speaker

Introduction: Wireless Rubik's Cube Speaker

About: Hi, my name is Britt Michelsen, I'm a Chemical Engineer especially interested in Computational Fluid Dynamics. To balance all the theoretical work I like to make stuff in my free time.
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In this instructable I am going to show you how to make a Rubik's cube that houses a speaker and is fully functional. It is compatible with all wireless Bluetooth devices or can be used with a 3.5 mm audio jack. The integrated battery can be loaded via USB as shown in the second picture.

As you can see in the pictures the plugs are well hidden, so it is a great way to prank your friends, by making the cube talk to them.

Here is a video of the cube. I'm sorry, that the sound is so hard to hear. I can't wait to get my new camera.

Step 2: Assemble the Cubes

I used Box Maker to create the boxes and Corel Draw to cut the smaller cube out. I can't wait for the plugin for 123D Make to be released. I've seen some admins make finger joints using it and compared to the way I used it's a lot easier. So if you would like to use different dimensions check it out first, it might safe you some time should it be published. You can find the cube I made in the templates. You should optimize them to fit your laser cutting area before cutting them.

The first two pictures show you how to assemble the cube I designed. I placed the pieces on the template, to make it easier. You will notice, that two pieces of the big cube and two pieces from the cut out are the same, don't worry about that. It's how they supposed to be.

I was afraid that the pieces would break so I tried filling them with wood filler, as shown in the fourth picture, but noticed that it is not really necessary. Assemble all cubes but one, this will be the one in which we are going to put the speaker (It has to include the piece with the holes in it)

Attachments

Step 3:

Next you will have to disassemble the cube. There are three small screws hidden underneath a plastic ring at the bottom as shown in the first picture. I had to use pliers to break the casing apart, because some of the parts were hot glued to it.

Afterwards unsolder the switch and the power plug and reattach them with wires, as shown in the pictures. Secure them with hot glue and place the parts into the last cube as shown in the last picture of the step. Place the audio plug and power through the holes and the switch through the slot. Make sure everything fits and glue the cube together. If you want you can thin out the inside where the speaker is sitting, in order for the sound to be louder.

Step 4: Painting

Cut a small notch so that the switch can be used, but doesn't interfere with the sliding of the pieces.

I am kind of a perfectionist, so I covered the (admittedly very small) holes with wood filler. Then you will have to sand all the pieces and round the corners. Priming the pieces is optional, but will give a better result. Remember to cover the holes from the plugs and the switch with tape in order not to cover them in paint.

Step 5: Assembly

Now all that is left to do is to assemble the cube. Remove the stickers from you Rubik's Cube and use a strong two component glue to glue the pieces you just made to your Rubik's cube.

Next you will have to cut the stickers. The official way of putting the stickers on is white opposite from yellow, red opposite from orange and blue opposite from green and e.g. white, green and red share a corner.

Tips

Questions

17 Comments

Hi, thank you! I need to keep my hands busy while doing stuff and pranking friends is always fun ;-). Do you have any idea when the algorithm for making finger joints in Make 123D will be released? I've seen amandaghassaei and James using it and it would be extremely helpful.